Ditching the NUK

My friend did this (and it worked for her!)....she let the kids use the paci's until it wore out and would not replace them (maybe you could do this w/just one insted off all of them). Then she told kids that the paci was worn out and it had to go bye-bye. When the kids would ask for more she would say that she could not find them, stores didn't have them, etc. and they accepted this and eventually stopped asking. Just an idea...but probably wise to never take them through the bottle/pacifier isle at the store! Good luck!

A.,
Both my girls used a Nuk and we decided that around their 3rd birthday, the "baba" fairy would come-Similar concept to the tooth fairy-the Nuk goes under the pillow and when they wake up, a present is there in it's place. With my first daughter it worked at night no prob. With the second one, she decided one morning when we left for daycare to put it under her pillow, so when we got home, the baba fairy had been there. We aslo told her that the baba fairy takes her baba to a new little baby that needs it more then her. It has been almost a week and the first few night there were some tears, has not asked for it in a couple of days.

My daughter had a nuk until she was 3 1/2 and we all loved it. In some ways I wish she could have it forever because it is so much easier for bedtime and meltdowns. Anyway, the way we got rid of it was to send it to her new baby cousin that was about to be born. She picked the day to send it and we wrapped it nicely in a box with a note that I wrote using her words and we mailed it off. (I didn't mail the original one...I bought a new one- the exact same and sent that without her knowing.) This was such an important object to her and she liked the idea of giving it to her cousin since she is now a big girl. I suppose this would only work if you know someone having a baby. Good luck!

We did the same thing with our daughter when she turned 3. I took her to Walmart and let her pick out any Barbie that she wanted and she had to pay for it with her "pluggie". She did it with no problem and on the way home I saw a tear running down her cheek so I reminded her of how big she was and about her cool new Barbie. She just smiled and held it. That night when she went to bed I reminded her of her new Barbie and that "SHE" had bought it with her "pluggie". I never heard another word about it.
Start preparing her for it now so when the day comes she'll be excited and ready to go. My other advice is to find an older lady at Walmart. We went to a younger checker and she's like "WHAT do you want me to do with it?" When I asked her to let my daughter pay for it with her nuks (all 3 of them in a baggie) and then add it to my bill and put the nuks in my bag - just in case it totally didn't work, lol. I'm sure an older lady would've got what I was doing a little better, lol.
Best wishes,
J.
Mother of 4, ages 6, 5, 4, and 2 - and hopefully more :O)

I definately understand - when we took our daughter's nuk away we stressed that she was turning into a big girl and was not a baby anymore and only babies used nuks. Luckily we had a friend who had a baby at the time so we were able to 'give' (just to get them out of the house) her all of our nuks. My daughter felt very proud that she was able to give the baby something. Just a thought. Good luck!!!!!

These are all good ideas, and mine is along the same lines. My younger child had a nuk until he was almost 4. Right around the time he turned four, we had started talking about the nuk fairy, and one night he put all his nuks in a bowl and put them under his bed. The next morning when he woke up there was a cool toy in place of the bowl.

One thing I thought about beforehand, however, was that my son clearly used the nuk for self-soothing. By the time he was three he was only allowed to have them when he was in/on his bed, so he'd take breaks and go up to his room to pop in a nuk and read and feel calmer.

So when the nuks were gone, what would he use? I watched him carefully, and noticed that he liked to sit on the bottom step of the stairs going into the kitchen, so I set up the shelf next to the stairs with a basket of little toys, kid magazines and toy catalogs, and our library books. Sitting on that step and reading became his new self-calming spot.

I would think about why your child "needs" the nuk, and have an idea of what will replace that need.

Hi A.

Try snipping the end and telling her it is broken and throw it away . If she has others do the same . Work with my daughter on her second birthday . I learned with my son to take it away early at 6 months . My doctor told me babies do not need the soothing of the sucking after the age of 6 months . After that age it is more soothing for the parents to give the nuk when they do not know how to sooth a crying baby . Good luck

Hi! I am a married mom with 3 kids ages 8,3,and 2. All of my kids used a pacifier and all got rid of it in different ways. My youngest it was the hardest. I saw on The Nanny the paci fairy. I have a daycare also and I did it for one of my daycare parents. For a few days talk about how there is a fairy that goes around looking for little boys and girls who no longer need their pacifiers. When she finds a child who no longer needs theirs she sneds them a letter asking them to give them to her. She will then take the pacifiers to other little boys and girls who need a pacifier. When I checked the mail a put a letter in the mail that was pink and had glitter in it. I read the letter to my daughter it asked her to prepare an envelope and put all her pacifiers in it so she can pick them up. My daughter put the letter in the mailbox. When the mail came next, in it was a new toy, glitter and I bought candy pacifiers that you would see at a baby shower. She has asked for them a time or two but didn't throw any fits or anything. We did have a tough time with bedtime for a couple weeks though. Good Luck

My sister used the "bottle fairy" when it was time to ditch the bottles. Maybe this will work with the NUK. She'll need to get some sort of gift in return of course.

I have friends that took their kids to build a bear and they placed their nuks inside their new animal. It worked well for them. Good luck.

Hi A. - My sister and her husband told their three year old that the babies in the pediatric ward needed her NUK. They actually went to the hospital and she handed a bag of NUKs to the nurses - it worked like a charm...they emphasized that nuks were needed by babies and she should give them up.

My son was the same way, so when his 3rd birthday was approaching we told him throughout the day, when he turns 3 he can no longer have his Nuk. We made sure to let him know that when he is 3 he is a big boy now and big boys don't need their Nuks anymore. After a day or 2 you would ask him when he turns 3 what he had to give up and he would say his nuk.

With the nuk and on my sons birthday we said what are you going to give up now and can't have he said his nuk and we took it away (and found all the others of course) and got rid of all of them. he asked for it when he went to bed the 1st night and we said remember you are a big boy and he got a big grin on his face and said oh yeah! Kissed him good night and we have been nuk free!!

Another thing we used when the kids had milk when they went to bed, we said the Dr. told us no more milk before bed, only water. I did this right after we were at the dr for my 4 year old checkup so it was really belivable to them. Works great.

Here are a couple of ideas:
1. I know that many people have a little ceremony explaining that it is time for the nuc to go help another child and you send the nuc away or have her say goodbye and you throw it away.
2. I have always used the tactic of just taking it away without any discussion and just dealing with the stress for a couple of days. It may be overwhelming for a bit but she will get over it. Or maybe buy her a small stuffed animal as a replacement for now.
Hope this helps. You know your child the best so you have to pick what is best for all of you. Good Luck.

Do you have any pets? to get my daughter off her NUK, we would cut the nipple end little by little and tell her our dog has been using it and he really likes it. she was so cute about really wanting her puppy to use it, that finaly she was not caring that she wasnt the one using it anymore.

Hello, My daughter who is now 4 was also very attached to her pacifier. We tried to ween her off before she turned three by only allowing its use for nap time or bed time. You could put something that has a pocket by the bed and that is where they place it when they wake up. For a month before she turned three we told her she would be a big girl and wouldn't need her pacifier anymore. She would even say it herself that when she had her birthday and turned three her pacifier would go away. Then after her birthday we got a paper sack and she put all her pacifiers in it, on the outside we wrote a letter to the pacifier fairy and said Dear Pacifier Fairy, Here are my pacifiers I will no longer need them since I turned three. I am a big girl now and am giving them to you. I even had her decorate the bag and put her name on it. (which at the time was little scribbles). Then we placed it outside her door before she crawled into bed. In the morning when she woke up she found a present from the fairy. She was so excited about her gift. She did cry for a couple of nights but we talked about what we did with her pacifiers and she would remember that she gave them to the pacifier fairy and she was three and didn't need them. (She had also just started preschool, so we were determined to say bye to them). After a few days she quite asking about them and then would tell people how she gave them to the pacifier fairy and how the fairy left her a present. It was very hard for her to give them up but I think since we talked about how she needed to get rid of them a lot leading up to the day we did the fairy experience helped a lot. (We also waited a few days after the birthday to give them to the fairy when the excitment of all the new toys had simmered down. Good luck! (This is just what worked for us.)

(Mommy to 4 year old, 2 year old and 8 month old all girls, I have my hands full)

Tell her when she turns 3 she is a big girl and no longer need the nuk. Have her throw them out and don't leave any laying around. If she throws them out and is a part of it she may do better. Also get her a doll or something to replace it. Something she can hold onto in long car rides, when stressed,etc.

I have twins that are just over 2 and did this cold turkey. I talked to my son and daughter about it and told him that his nuk would be going bye bye. This was on a Sunday and I took the nuks away on Tuesday. My daughter cried herself to sleep but overall it was fairly painless. They still ask for them and then laugh because they know my response will be that the nuks went bye, bye. Nap time and bed time seem to take a little longer but overall I would recommend taking the nuk away, once you are ready, cold turkey. Hope this helps!

A.; well usually a kid has turmoil cause it has a need that needs to be fed, use the pacifyer only when needed, they were invented to help the sucking need a infant needs, when first born, after a while they no longer need to suck, so to use it for any other reason is not needed, simply take it out of her mouth if she about walking or in the car, just cause she might be bored, or dont know what to do, she might just need attention, so talk to her, dont pack the pacifyer, attend to her needs, instead of putting them off with a pacifyer, just enjoy her and enjoy life, D. s

While I find some of the ideas others have given very cute, I am old school and suggest you calmly yet firmly explain to her she is a big girl now and won't be needing a pacifier anymore. She may whine, cry, have temper tantrums, etc for a little while, but this is a learning experience. She should learn early in life that we don't get what we want by resisting the rules. Ages 1-5 are the formative years, where children learn the most about concepts of life, and teaching that we often have to do what has to be done without rewards would help her develop into a healthy adult later.

We traded it for something BIG that she really wanted. The only thing she wanted more than her nuk was her big girl bed. The nuk fairy came and took the nuks for her brother, who was due to arrive about 2 months later (although I bought all new nuks of a different brand for him to try and avoid any problems later). I am happy to say she has only asked for it once and we helped her remember where they went. Getting her to sleep became much more trying in her big girl bed (new room, new freedom, no nuk, brother on the way) but after 3 months we finally feel like we have crossed that bridge. But she now happily helps her brother take his nuk when he fusses and I haven't once seen her try to put it in her own mouth. She is, however, caught daily with her fingers in her mouth. Drives me nuts but can't really expect that the need to suck or pacify went away overnight. Good luck! Whatever you decide, make sure you remove the nuks from the house if you think you will in any way cave once you do what you decide to do!

we did it at christmas and left the pacifiers for Santa. in their place he left a very small gift. in the morning they were more excited for the gift and the NUK was a thing of the past. hope this helps

I decided to ditch the nuk for my son at 3 also. He called it a "GP" (green pacifier) and we made up a song that we started singing a few months before his birthday - "When you're 3 - no GP". We also talked about giving it up, how three-year--olds were too big, etc. We sang the song a lot. When he turned three - that was it. Put it in a drawer and never looked back....
Good luck to you.

My daughter was horrible about the nuk. Had to have it 24/7. I got rid of it because I was tired of trying to find it all day and night when she lost it.

We had a talk about how nuks were for babies and when she was ready we would take them to Target. She could pick out a new toy and "pay" for it with her nuks and Target would give them to the babies who needed them.

A couple days later she said she was ready. So, we gathered them all up in a baggie and went to Target. I let her pick out a toy and we went to the register. She happily handed them to the check out lady and I told her we were paying for the toy with her nuk and to please give them to the babies who needed them (with a wink and a smile). The check out lady went right along with it and I discreetly ran my credit card.

My daughter was so happy to have her new toy and the nuks were gone. She asked a couple of times for the nuk in the next few days and I simply reminded her where they went. That was the end of it. No meltdowns. She felt good that she did something for someone else and learned a lesson about "paying" for things she wants.

Sidenote: Just don't go back. Ever. When you get rid of them, make sure they are all gone.

Good luck,
K.

Before my daughter turned 3 we talked with her a lot about how pacifiers are for little babies and how she was becoming such a big girl. We slowly weaned her so that she was just down to using them during naps and at bedtime. Then, a few months prior to her birthday, we told her she wouldn't be able to use them after she turned three. We repeated this over and over so that she would be prepared. We asked her what she thought we should do with the pacifiers. First she said to give them to her baby brother, but we wanted to get them out of the house (baby brother never used pacifiers anyway). I subtly recommended that we could give them to her pediatrician so he could give them to the babies he takes care of. I tried to make it seem like it was her idea. She loved it, and when it came to see him after her 3rd birthday, she handed them over to him. He was in on the whole thing and was overly dramatic thanking her for them and saying how thoughtful she was. She looked so proud of herself. She cried a little for a day or two and then forgot all about them. It worked well for us. It seemed to give her some control of the situation and helped her learn how to give to others and accept change.

I had to suddenly take my son's Binky cause he had oral surgery on his teeth...he just turned 3 in July. It surprised me how easy he excepted it but I talked to him about it for a couple months before he couldnt have it anymore. The tantrums are lounder and a little longer but he doesnt ask much for it. once or twice. Honestly it is not anymore stressful then the usual day to day power struggles. I understand being overwhelmed. I dont have 4 but I have a 2 month old and just took the binky a couple weeks ago. Just start talking to her if you havent already and then maybe have the binky fairy come and take it overnight or something.
Someone also told me the idea of tying it on a balloon and letting it fly away.